This is a performance review (with video) of ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund ( I Pru Bal Adv) against broad market benchmarks like Nifty, Nifty 100 and 200 and composite benchmarks. I Pru Bal Adv is one of the finest dynamic asset allocation funds and here is why. I thank Ravikiran Suryanarayana for this post idea….
Continue reading →Are we now in a bear market? Can we get an idea using long-term technical indicators? In my opinion, there are two robust ways to time the market for lowering investment risk: either use technical indicators/macroeconomic indicators or use a combination of both. Starting this month, I shall be publishing a market analysis based on both…
Continue reading →One of the most common investor mistakes is to assume that higher the equity in the portfolio, higher the reward. Studying balanced mutual funds or aggressive hybrid mutual fund will tell you that this is wrong. In this article, I compare the risk vs return of Aggressive Hybrid Mutual Funds vs diversified mutual funds & show…
Continue reading →This is a simple, non-technical description of what are mutual fund star ratings and how they are calculated with the help of an analogy – employee performance appraisal. This is meant for beginners and newbies and I have avoided all jargon. It is only when we understand how star ratings are calculated, can we understand their…
Continue reading →The fall in the markets over the last few weeks gives us a small window of opportunity to learn about risk in mutual funds. In this post, I list the funds and fund categories that fell the most and those that fell the least between Aug 28th 2018 and October 14th 2018. Although this is…
Continue reading →So all it took was just a few days of southbound market movement for questions like, “Should I Stop My Mutual Fund SIPs? Market is falling every day!” to start! Yesterday, I saw five such questions in Quora and readers have sent me similar emails. So if you are asking this question, here is why…
Continue reading →One of the common newbie questions regarding mutual fund SIPs is: What is the best date to start a mutual fund SIP? Nothing wrong with the question, but as in most cases, the answers are often wrong. In this post, I discuss the data of 4147 10-year Sensex SIP retuns computed between Jan 1991 and Sep…
Continue reading →Every time debt mutual funds face credit risk – a sharp drop in NAV due to the credit rating downgrade of a bond – investors get spooked. Credit risk is part and parcel of fixed income and debt mutual fund investing and one cannot run away from it. However, after the SEBI categorization rules, I…
Continue reading →If you are looking for someone to advise you on money management, then you should sign up with a fee-only financial planner – an investment advisor registered with SEBI – who does not get commissions from any agency and works only for you. Hundreds of readers have engaged the advisors from the freefincal List of Fee-only Financial…
Continue reading →Can we spot market highs and lows using technical indicators? The answer is yes, provided a user understands the pros and cons of each method. I discuss the current state of a few technical indicators and discuss their benefits and limitations. This post is in-part triggered by comments from Dhinesh Kumar here: Timing the market by…
Continue reading →A question many people ask today is, How should we invest in the present market condition? I discuss simple ways to stay focused and navigate the present market condition. I would wager that five out of every 10 mutual funds or stock investor is fairly new having entered around 2014 or later. The downward movement in…
Continue reading →Here are 10 things mutual fund investors should not be doing! Avoiding these will make you a better and contented investor. Naturally, the following is an opinion formed from my experience (and nature) and naturally, I do not expect many of you agree with me. The serenity prayer made popular by AA groups goes like…
Continue reading →One of the first SEBI registered investment advisors in the country, Melvin Joseph is an amazing person. He has devised an Rs. 2000 SIP (which I have signed up for) that will not only reward you in bear or bull markets but also change your life and not just your life! No better day to…
Continue reading →After much debate and hesitation, I finally took the plunge and purchased super top-up health insurance for my family. Since I have written several posts on health insurance, I thought I will share the details here. This is not a recommendation and the purchase I made is truly personal. I am sure there are better…
Continue reading →So a question on many lips is, “Should I now switch from large-cap funds to index funds?” the reason being the new rule about large-cap funds that 80% of their portfolio should be from the top 100 stocks in terms of full market capitalization (that is from the NSE 100). In this post, I discuss…
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